How does anything about the way medical care is administered in the US work in the context of the mythical "free market"?
https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/finance/put-chargemaster-...
It's not clear that this will have the intended effect (since insurance always pays a heavily discounted price), but I think it's a step in the right direction.
But people also firmly believe they don't want price discrimination once they're on fixed incomes, and want government to take whatever steps are necessary to pay for that.
Healthcare costs for old people is most of the game, and those are regulated. No one is willing to challenge that.
Thus, we have a market that remains too regulated for presently-allowable-competition to make a difference.
In terms of competition, the real problem is the artificially low numbers of health care workers and facilities. The Drs are limited by the low number of medical schools, etc and the number of facilities are limited by requiring Certificates of Need, etc.
First remove these barriers to entry and require transparent pricing. Then... maybe competition would result in lower prices.
>...Seven of the top 10 most profitable hospitals in the United States are nonprofit facilities that each netted more than $150 million from caring for patients in 2013,
>...The study’s main purpose was to determine the characteristics of the nation’s most profitable hospitals. They found that facilities that were part of a system were more profitable because they were able to dominate their local market, which gives them greater clout in negotiating higher prices from private insurers. It also means consumers end up paying more if their health-care provider is out of network, Anderson said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/0...
Also:
>...Nonprofit hospitals have higher profit margins than most for-profit hospitals after accounting for their tax obligations.
http://thehealthcareblog.com/blog/2017/04/25/the-fairy-tale-...